Berthoud Recreation Center at Waggener Farm Park Berthoud, Colo.

Project Description:

Berthoud Recreation Center at Waggener Farm Park is the first phase of the town’s plan to make Waggener Farm Park a destination park. At 49,000 square feet, this community recreation center provides much-needed amenities to Berthoud’s growing population in a single-story facility that features a gymnasium, a natatorium, a fitness area, a bouldering wall, an aerobics studio, and party and child watch rooms.

Part farm town, part family suburb, the community and its still-vital agrarian roots inspired the center’s exterior design. As a cost-saving measure, the gymnasium volume was built as a pre-engineered metal building. To reduce the height of this imposing volume, the gym was dropped two feet lower than the rest of the building, which in turn created a tiered fitness area, as well as a seamlessly integrated ramp in the bouldering area. This relatively small level change has a large and positive impact on the feel and flow of these spaces.

The natatorium volume was designed as a “monitor barn” common to the area. The added height from the monitor clearstory allowed room for a ridge skylight, as well as a taller slide tower. The natatorium packs a lot of activity into its 11,300 square feet of space with a slide tower, a large hot tub, a three-lane lap pool featuring a climbing wall and a diving platform, and a lifestyle pool with beach entry, a play structure and a lazy river. The town’s iconic view of Long’s Peak is represented on the waterslide tower wall in a glass tile mosaic.